Meat bird not walking

[Mrs. K]

This is my fourth year of doing meat birds, and while I have read of this, this is the first time, I have had a bird quit walking or nearly quit walking. She seemed reluctant a few days ago, but would do so, today, barely rising up a little bit. 5.5 weeks.

She appears healthy, bright eyed, just lazy, so I will cull her tomorrow. But we should be able to eat her, she does not seem distressed in anyway- just rather confused as if she forgot how to walk.

Mrs K

 

[Parront]

Leg weakness happens a lot with some lines of the Cornish Cross meat birds. They grow so fast that their legs just can't hold them up. They will sit by the food and water and eat. For the fast growth and quick weight gain, you can not beat them. You might think about cutting down the feeding time for the rest of them, if you are only taking them to 6 weeks though you are almost there. You can eat them when they are like that, I once grew some to 10 - 12 weeks, and they were having trouble walking by the time I got to the 12 week olds. They were ~10 pounds dressed weight at that age. I had given them free run of the yard, and they had to walk to get to the food and water. But, they were not walking well, and it was getting to be warmer weather than they could take, so that was as large as I could get them to grow, I was trying to see how long I could keep them. They were exceptionally good eating.